PRAY FOR ROSA

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for baby Rosa! This morning Brian and Jeffery took Vanessa and the baby to the hospital. Rosa is having convulsions. Pray that the hospital will have the knowledge and equipment to help little Rosa.

Precious Moments from Wednesday

Filamena, who's son has a heart problem, is entertaining another woman's son, Rebin, who has CP.

Ruth poses for a picture with her adult daughter who has Down Syndrome. They showed the other families with young special needs children what a difference early intervention can make in their lives.

The three kids facing this way all come from different families and have different disabilities. It was so neat to see them interact and play together.

Meeting of the Families

Today we had a special meeting for the families of the children with special needs that this ministry serves. It took several hours to get everyone here but it was well worth the effort. Jeffery and several others spoke trying to motivate the parents to make the most out of the help they receive from Little Hands by doing their part. It was a time of encouragement as mothers with children with similar disabilities were able to share with one another.

Roxanna and a helper had 27 kids in the preschool while the meeting took place. It was a busy place!

Mayra made Arroz Con Pollo for 70 people.

Some of the "little hands". (There wasn't room around the table for everyone!)

Here's the group photo, more to follow later.

Weekend Cruise

Last Sunday afternoon our family and another missionary family went on a boat ride across the bay and into the lagoons. It was an interesting trip. We did not get to see as much wildlife as we were hoping...the crocodiles are only at night, very disappointing to Jonathan! We were amazed at how huge the lagoon was after we came through a fairly narrow canal. There was quite a stiff breeze blowing making white caps on the water and rocking the boat when we hit the swells broadside. I was thankful no one got seasick!

Though not technically a cruise, a good time was had by all. (Actually the cruise part, that was just to see if you were paying attention!)

Update on Vanessa

By the end of last week, it seemed like we were really making progress and that Vanessa was learning and willing to work hard at taking care of herself and her baby. But over the weekend and yesterday morning, it became obvious that she is very much deceived by the older man who is the father of the baby. After treating her with contempt last week, he has sweet talked her right back to the place we are trying so hard to help her escape from. She thinks he will give her the moon and then some and cannot see how he continues to take advantage of her. We had a long difficult discussion with her and now it is up to her to make wise choices. Please pray that this week Vanessa will see what a snake this man is and that she will commit to live her life in a way that not only is pleasing to God, but also will be the best for herself and for baby Rosa.

Book Review

In the previous post, I talked about how we are reading through C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. "Roar!" by Heather Kopp and David Kopp has been our companion and helped to facilitate our chapter by chapter discussions. It is great resource and I have been so pleased with it, that I already ordered another copy because I am afraid that the one we have now will be in tatters by the time we are finished! There is a short selection for each chapter in the series and several other sections including glossaries, Biblical references, and articles about various issues that may come up as you read these books together with your children. We bought our copy from my favorite place to buy books: Christian Book Distributors, (www.cbd.com) and right now they still have it for an amazing discounted price. If you are planning to read through the Chronicles with your family, this is a wonderful tool to help you get the most out of C.S.Lewis's most popular books.

Sunday Afternoon Reading

I have waited for years to read the Chronicles of Narnia to our kids. We started reading aloud after supper when we still lived in the states and while good books are a very rare commodity in this third world country, we have tried to carry on the tradition here as well. Actually, we import all the books we read and that has made us cut back considerably! For a family that was used to getting 30-40 books at the library at a time, having only a few great books to savor together has made us really appreciate the ones we do have! Now that the kids are so grown up, we decided it was time to explore Narnia together! We just finished, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Last Sunday afternoon, we sat around in our screen porch and listened as Brian read.

After each chapter, we pause and talk about what we read. We've enjoyed some really insightful and humorous comments by the kids. They are enjoying these times as much as we are and we're all looking forward to the next book.

Vanessa's Week of Intensive OJT

Vanessa has spent the last week under our care 24 hours day. Our focus has been to help her re-establish her milk supply so she can breast feed Rosa and learn how to care for her baby.

Maybelline demonstrating how to clean baby's ears.

Tonight we celebrated with pizza to honor Vanessa for working so hard this past week.

Tomorrow, Vanessa will go back to her house and family, but we plan to continue to help her grow into her new role as mother and woman of the house. It is our hope that she will continue to spend her days here next week when we will focus on cooking and more baby care.

The Adventure Continues

Things are relatively calm here in Trujillo. There have been disturbances in other places in the country, but not much has changed here. Stores were running low on supplies while the road was blocked, but it was open for a while this morning so things should be restocked soon. People are nervous about the future and how it will impact their family. They worry that their sons (as young as 14) and fathers will be pressed into service with the military. Everyone is wondering what will happen when the ousted president returns this weekend.

We have a group from Washington state working here this week. They are doing a great job in the perimeter fence, building a new sink for the kitchen, putting in a ceiling in the prekinder building and digging a trench for a new water line. While we are keeping an eye on things and making plans in case the political situation deteriorates, life is continuing on. Little Hands continues to serve the community and the families around us.

Please do pray for the people of Honduras and for a quick solution to the problems in the government. If things take a turn for the worse, it could make our situation here very difficult. Right now, Trujillo is still the safest place for us to be. If civil war does break out, please pray for wisdom and clarity in the decisions we will have to make.